By now, most of you have probably heard that on May 18, 2016, the Obama Administration and the DOL announced the long-awaited final rule updating the Department’s white collar exemption from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime protections. The new rule will be effective December 1, 2016. Now that we finally know what we’re dealing with, I thought it may…

Following up on our January 29th report on the EEOC’s pay-data plan, Bill Martucci, head of Shook’s national Employment Litigation and Policy Group, recently weighed in on what he described as a “dramatic step” by the EEOC: EEOC's Plan Requiring Additional Pay Data is a "Dramatic Step," Martucci Says January 29, 2016 Shook, Hardy & Bacon Partner Bill Martucci joined…

Today the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proposed changes to the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). Specifically, the EEOC proposed that companies with 100 or more employees be required to collect and provide pay data. In turn, the EEOC will analyze the data in its efforts to promote equal pay in the workplace and ensure companies are not discriminating based on pay. This announcement was made with the White House and in conjunction with the seventh anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Contract legal work has become the norm for many attorneys who, for whatever reason, are not engaged in a full-time legal practice. This type of work benefits not only young law graduates who are still searching for their dream job, but also seasoned attorneys who have taken a break from their practice. The equation is relatively simple: law firms assign…

This Whiteboard Explainer: What is Overtime, posted by Heidi Shierholz on the DOL’s blog back on July 8, 2015, is not new, but I think it is worthy of posting now because it’s the simplest explanation I’ve seen of the proposed rule changes. Apparently others agree as the DOL included this video, along with four others, in its December 29,…

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the minimum wage rates in “Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont,” West Virginia, Colorado and South Dakota will increase effective January 1, 2016. Workers in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Minnesota will also see minimum wage increases later this summer. According to the Department,…

The Third Circuit recently adopted the predominant benefit test to determine whether employees’ meal periods are compensable under the FLSA. In Babcock v. Butler County, Case No.: 14-1467 (3d. Cir. Nov. 24, 2015), the plaintiff, a corrections officer at the Butler County Prison, alleged that Butler County failed to properly compensate her and those similarly situated for overtime. In this…

The Florida Second District Court of Appeal recently enforced a restrictive covenant through a temporary restraining order (“TRO”). See Florida Digestive Health Specialist, LLP v. Colina, --- So.3d ----, 2015 WL 6874913 (Fla. 2d DCA Nov. 4, 2015). More specifically, the Second DCA found that a gastroenterologist was bound by a restrictive covenant, which limited how he could compete with…

On November 5th, the Southern District of Florida refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against JP Morgan Chase Bank by one of its former bank tellers. The plaintiff, a Brazilian citizen, alleged the Bank violated anti-discrimination and retaliation laws under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. He complained the Bank treated him differently than U.S. citizens and non-Brazilian employees and then fired…

As employers salute and honor veterans today, employers should also review whether they are doing all they can to guard against veteran discrimination. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) “protects members of the military from discrimination and retaliation in employment on the basis of their military service.” Wooldridge v. City of Melbourne, No. 6:14-cv-55-Orl-40TBS, 2015 WL 4250491,…

The Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced a proposed rule change today that would extend overtime protections to approximately 5 million additional workers by increasing the salary cap for workers that fall under the white collar exception to the overtime rule, which the Department said has threatened to eat the current overtime rule without automatic cost-of-living increases over…

The Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) streamlines removal of cases to federal court if certain requirements are met. A court acquires federal jurisdiction over a class action with at least 100 class members, an amount in controversy in excess of $5,000,000 in the aggregate, and at least minimal diversity of citizenship—i.e. any class member with citizenship diverse from any defendant. …

On March 14, 2014, we wrote about a district court examining the merits of a plaintiff’s claims when addressing the amount in controversy requirement upon removal of a case from state to federal court. [Click here to view]. McDaniel v. Fifth Third Bank (M.D. Fla. Feb. 28, 2014). To recap, the plaintiff filed a class action complaint against Fifth Third Bank…

On May 19, 2014, in what appears to be a growing trend, Manouchar Pierre-Val, a former cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, filed a putative collective action against the team (Pierre-Val v Buccaneers) alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). The putative class is defined as “[a]ll Cheerleaders who worked for Defendant within the last three years who…

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently joined other courts in holding that a settlement offer to a putative class representative before class certification is sought for all the relief to which the plaintiff is entitled warrants dismissal of the case. In Barr v. Harvard Drug Group, LLC, Case No.: 13-62019, 2014 WL 2612072 (S.D.…